So here's the story. I got in at U of Richmond and George Mason and waitlisted at William and Mary, Wake Forest, American U and Baylor.

I need to make a decision. I am going to withdraw at Baylor and Wake Forest and stay on the lists at W&M and American. I have residency status at W&M and am applying for it at George Mason (with high hopes because I got it at W&M).

GM tuition is about 24k in-state and Richmond is at 37k, I haven't received scholarship information from wither school yet.

William and Mary is my first choice (in-state tuition and my mom lives in Williamsburg so I can live at home) but you never know with waitlists so I need to make a deposit somewhere else: George Mason or University of Richmond?

I would rather not retake and re-apply even though I know that's what everyone will say, I don't want to wait. I want to know what my best move is with the options I have and not get advice from everyone saying 'oh you need to retake and get a 170 and you'll be fine'.

I want to go into international law. george mason is appealing to me because of it's economics background and my undergrad is in economics but obviously I want the better quality education.

My personal opinion (if you HAVE to go this fall) is that GM is crap. Richmond is a well respected school. If you don't get pulled off the W&M waitlist, I would recommend Richmond over GM even with the higher costs.

As far as international law goes, I don't think it really matters what school you go to out of the choices given. I'm under the assumption most international law jobs are for T-14 grads???

I highly recommend a retake though if you don't get into W&M. I was in your shoes a year ago. I REALLY didn't want to retake and wait but I did and now I got into the school I actually wanted and on some waitlists at even higher ranked schools. I'm in a much better position now and I'm well rested for the 1st year (which is most important).

noleknight16 wrote:My personal opinion (if you HAVE to go this fall) is that GM is crap.

Agreed. I also received admission to both schools, and Richmond has been by far the most impressive of the two. The dean of admissions at Richmond was awesome to speak with on the phone, answered all my questions, and seemed genuinely happy to be talking with me, while the dean at GM was rudely short and rushed me off of the phone. I've received tons of information from Richmond since my admission telling me about what is available at the school and I have been very impressed with the program and the faculty and staff there. The only stuff I've received from GM was my admissions packet.

Maybe being close to DC would help with your career goals, but I personally think Richmond is the better choice out of the two.

Richmond is a far superior school to GMU. While I did not attend Richmond, I toured the school after being accepted. I was very impressed. Richmond also actually commands its home market whereas GMU is near the bottom of the barrel in the oversaturated D.C. market. GMU also has a very odd right-wing "free market" economics view that they try to shove down your throat. Typical conservative view that capitalist markets should be unregulated, but we can regulate private sexual relationships and female reproductive rights all we want. Unless you're part of the Rush Limbaugh crowd, I would choose Richmond any day over GMU.

[quote="tarp"] GMU also has a very odd right-wing "free market" economics view that they try to shove down your throat. Typical conservative view that capitalist markets should be unregulated, but we can regulate private sexual relationships and female reproductive rights all we want. Unless you're part of the Rush Limbaugh crowd, I would choose Richmond any day over GMU.[/quote

+1

Not sure it's all limbaugh all the time at GMU, but a very good friend and trusted advisor who teaches at Wake law seriously dissuaded me from even considering GMU because of the right wing/libertarian reputation of the school.

FWIW, I was accepted at UR with a pretty decent scholly and I think I will attend unless I get into UNC which is in state for me and obviously a lot cheaper. I have been really impressed with UR thus far.

tarp wrote:Richmond is a far superior school to GMU. While I did not attend Richmond, I toured the school after being accepted. I was very impressed. Richmond also actually commands its home market whereas GMU is near the bottom of the barrel in the oversaturated D.C. market. GMU also has a very odd right-wing "free market" economics view that they try to shove down your throat. Typical conservative view that capitalist markets should be unregulated, but we can regulate private sexual relationships and female reproductive rights all we want. Unless you're part of the Rush Limbaugh crowd, I would choose Richmond any day over GMU.

It's libertarian and classical liberal, idiot. The second part just isn't true. Go read anything by Don Boudreaux or Tyler Cowen. Most of the scholars in economics are atheists that believe in less regulation of people's private lives (drugs war, etc) and are very anti-war. Both of which you can't say about modern chickenhawk obamabots.

tarp wrote: GMU also has a very odd right-wing "free market" economics view that they try to shove down your throat. Typical conservative view that capitalist markets should be unregulated, but we can regulate private sexual relationships and female reproductive rights all we want. Unless you're part of the Rush Limbaugh crowd, I would choose Richmond any day over GMU.[/quote

+1

Not sure it's all limbaugh all the time at GMU, but a very good friend and trusted advisor who teaches at Wake law seriously dissuaded me from even considering GMU because of the right wing/libertarian reputation of the school.

FWIW, I was accepted at UR with a pretty decent scholly and I think I will attend unless I get into UNC which is in state for me and obviously a lot cheaper. I have been really impressed with UR thus far.

tarp wrote: GMU also has a very odd right-wing "free market" economics view that they try to shove down your throat. Typical conservative view that capitalist markets should be unregulated, but we can regulate private sexual relationships and female reproductive rights all we want. Unless you're part of the Rush Limbaugh crowd, I would choose Richmond any day over GMU.[/quote

+1

Not sure it's all limbaugh all the time at GMU, but a very good friend and trusted advisor who teaches at Wake law seriously dissuaded me from even considering GMU because of the right wing/libertarian reputation of the school.

FWIW, I was accepted at UR with a pretty decent scholly and I think I will attend unless I get into UNC which is in state for me and obviously a lot cheaper. I have been really impressed with UR thus far.

What you described isn't Libertarianism.

I don't think i ever tried to describe libertarianism, did I? The only thing I said was that the school has a rep for being right wing/ libertarian.

I don't want to get OP's thread off track, but in my personal experience many of the people I know who self-describe as libertarians are just closet-Republicans. If libertarians don't have a generally conservative view of things then why is Ron Paul in the republican primary. Pretty sure Pat Buchannan ran for president as a republican too (and by pretty sure i mean absolutely sure).

tarp wrote: GMU also has a very odd right-wing "free market" economics view that they try to shove down your throat. Typical conservative view that capitalist markets should be unregulated, but we can regulate private sexual relationships and female reproductive rights all we want. Unless you're part of the Rush Limbaugh crowd, I would choose Richmond any day over GMU.[/quote

+1

Not sure it's all limbaugh all the time at GMU, but a very good friend and trusted advisor who teaches at Wake law seriously dissuaded me from even considering GMU because of the right wing/libertarian reputation of the school.

FWIW, I was accepted at UR with a pretty decent scholly and I think I will attend unless I get into UNC which is in state for me and obviously a lot cheaper. I have been really impressed with UR thus far.

What you described isn't Libertarianism.

I don't think i ever tried to describe libertarianism, did I? The only thing I said was that the school has a rep for being right wing/ libertarian.

I don't want to get OP's thread off track, but in my personal experience many of the people I know who self-describe as libertarians are just closet-Republicans. If libertarians don't have a generally conservative view of things then why is Ron Paul in the republican primary. Pretty sure Pat Buchannan ran for president as a republican too (and by pretty sure i mean absolutely sure).

If you don't understand why Ron Paul is running as a Republican, I'm guessing politics are not your strong point. I'll leave it at that so this doesn't get off track.

I can definitely understand why Ron Paul (an avowed libertarian) is running as a Republican. That is exactly my point. Libertarian often equals conservative. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the original point of my first post on this thread was that GMU has a reputation for being pretty ideological and for allowing the ideology to dictate its academics. Its something to be aware of when considering the school. For me it was a major turn-off.

I think my whole point is that a law school should not lean toward one specific ideology... it should encourage free thought and debate as well as exposure to a variety of ways of thinking. At GMU you will not get that open environment. There is always a right answer, which is the free market libertarian view, and they pound it into your head.

tarp wrote:I think my whole point is that a law school should not lean toward one specific ideology... it should encourage free thought and debate as well as exposure to a variety of ways of thinking. At GMU you will not get that open environment. There is always a right answer, which is the free market libertarian view, and they pound it into your head.

tarp wrote:I think my whole point is that a law school should not lean toward one specific ideology... it should encourage free thought and debate as well as exposure to a variety of ways of thinking. At GMU you will not get that open environment. There is always a right answer, which is the free market libertarian view, and they pound it into your head.

Calling bullshit.

I definitely did not write this last post. How worried should I be that someone was able to post this under my name? Cuz i am pretty worried.... Moderators help?

tarp wrote:I think my whole point is that a law school should not lean toward one specific ideology... it should encourage free thought and debate as well as exposure to a variety of ways of thinking. At GMU you will not get that open environment. There is always a right answer, which is the free market libertarian view, and they pound it into your head.

Calling bullshit.

I definitely did not write this last post. How worried should I be that someone was able to post this under my name? Cuz i am pretty worried.... Moderators help?